Rafael Nadal swapped his rackets for his golf clubs as he took part in the Balearic Championship in Mallorca, and out of 60 contestants, he finished sixth.
Rafa ranked 10th on the first day, and move up to seventh by the end of the weekend.
It was not Rafa’s first foray into golf, with the Spaniard finishing second just last weekend in the V Test Circuit Hexagonal – Autovidal in Calvia.
Rafa is all set to appear in the Rolex Paris Masters 2020 starting at the end of this month.
Day 1: Saturday
Day 2: Sunday
Day 3: Monday
Wow! Novak Djokovic just got blown off the court in Vienna by luck loser Lorenzo Sonego, 2-6 1-6. All credit to Lorenzo who had the Midas touch on court today, but Novak seemed to have the same body language as he did against Rafa in the RG final. I wonder if that loss in Paris is still at the back of his mind.
Pinpoint accuracy, variety and power seem to be the blueprint for success against Novak and I hope Rafa will be able to continue employing these tactics successfully against his arch rival going forward.
Djokovic just lost 6-2 6-1 to Lucky LoserLLoser Sonego!!!! OMG!!!
But as always, ……cheers
Rafa has announced his arrival in Paris on his IG account. No picture of himself, only if an exit sign. He says for everyone to stay healthy.
Sascha announced on Twitter that he looks forward to being a father even though he and his girlfriend are no longer together. He didn’t give a date only to say that he is to become a dad at 23-years-old, his current age. Sascha will be 24 on April 20.
There seems to be more to this than meets the eye. From what I’ve read in the media, this is bitter sweet news for Sascha Zverev. According to media reports, his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Brenda Patea, said that she is 20 weeks pregnant, has no contact with Sascha and no intention of sharing custody. She is reported to have said “There was a crisis before because we have different views on life. Anyone who lives by the side of an athlete has to submit. That is out of the question for me. The child was not planned but I will do everthing to ensure that it grows up in a harminious environment . I am in the fortunate position of being able to raise the child by myself.”
As if that wasn’t enough, there are unsavoury allegations of physical abuse coming from a previous girlfriend, Olga Sharypova, which she made in an interview with Russian outlet Championat and mentioned on Instagram. Both women refer to Sascha’s controlling behaviour.
Far from casting aspersions, if Sascha has off court control or anger management problems, then it needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later, because it doesn’t do his reputation any good or the reputation of the sport.
My best wishes go to Brenda and their unborn child and I hope both parties can work in the best interest of the child coming into this world.
[Sources : TennisWorld, RT News, Tennis Tonic]
As France increases its level of COVID restrictions, the French Tennis Federation have said that they intend to go ahead with the Paris Masters with no spectators, but need government clearance to do so. They hope to get a response by tomorrow afternoon. Rafa was due to travel to Paris tomorrow, I believe.
Even if it goes ahead is it worth the risk for any player to go there right now? France has the most daily Covid cases in all of Europe. Plus playing indoors is less safe than outdoors. My heart is wishing that Rafa will skip it.
Lorna, no link to yours @ 7:52pm.
No Lorna, thank you for bringing the story here. I just wanted to know what the Spanish media had to say about the proposal. Unfortunately the English language articles that I came across left a lot out and treated the announcement as a faîte accompli.
I added the political commentary because each of the Spanish articles had the word Vox, which I had seen before but never bothered to look up. In one of the articles there was a link to Vidal’s tweet and after reading it, I went ballistic [mentally]. He called Rafa “a winner” which he is, but in the same breath called the government “losers because they didn’t believe in the same values” that Rafa does. If that’s not self-serving, what is.
I hope Rafa’s agent Carlos Costa see’s what is going and gets it back to Rafa because he is super sour on controversy, justifiably so.
On a completely different subject, has anybody heard anything about whether the new coronavirus “lockdown” in France will have any impact on the Paris 1000 which is scheduled to begin next week? I assume the tournament will go forward but the timing could hardly be worse. Thanks to anyone with the latest information.
Hi David, I think the tournament is to be held under closed doors now, no longer allowing 1,000 fans daily for the day matches.
Marileena, please hurry with your application for caddying for Rafa. Get a load of this tweet:
“LTA
@the_LTA
·
1h
Level 2:
In a recent interview with the Sunday Times, Andy said he’d consider becoming a caddy when he retires, while Rafa played in a pro golf tournament last week and finished sixth.”
Andy may have read your post and had the media underhandedly put in his application to Rafa. NOT FAIR.
MARILEENA FOR CADDY
LOL. Thanks for the support Margo!
👍
Caja Magica
The accolades just keep coming. The Mutua Madrid Open is to rename its stadium after Rafa. Rafa is delighted about the proposed renaming of the Caga Magica, but being the humble person that he is, he has asked for this not to be done until he retires, because he doesn’t want to make his rivals feel uncomfortable playing in a stadium that bears his name.
Very fitting for them to bestow this honour on him. Barcelona already named their centre court Pista Rafa Nadal in 2017. There should be more to come-looking at you Roland Garros!
Congratulations to Rafa on yet another recognition of his unbelievably astounding career.
Lorna, while it’s great for Rafa to be recognized for being a great athlete and a person of high positive values, I hope he is not being used by Fernando Martinez Vidal, who put forth the proposition for political reasons, to add Rafa’s name to the Caja Magica.
In a recent tweet, Martinez Vidal contrasted Rafa’s humility, sacrifices, love of family, etc. and ended with “unlike the government.” In other words, Rafa is great but our government sucks.
Martinez Vidal belongs to the far-right group Vox which gained seats in the Spanish government the last elections. His group is like the US government but on a much smaller scale.
Renaming the venue “Caja Magica Rafa Nadal” will be voted on Tuesday and is expected to pass according to reports. The only thing that may stand in the way is that Rafa is the image of Mapfre but the tournament is connected to Mutua Madrilena which is the principal patron of the Mutua Madrid Open. These two groups are competitors.
I was surprised in 2017 that Rafa agreed to have a Barcelona stadium renamed Pista Rafa Nadal while still an active player. I was happy for him but did wonder what other players might have been feeling. I would hope that they were happy for him, too.
[Sources: In the Spanish media —abc.es; Marca; politico.eu; Twitter; In English—ATP Staff.]
Correction: Should read: ,I hope he is not being used for political reasons by Fernando Martinez Vidal who put forth the proposal to add Rafa’s name to the Caja Magica.”
—————-
Addendum: Of note is that Vidal’s tweet garnered a mere double-digit thumbs up. It could be an indication of Spain’s citizens’ disapproval of using Rafa’s stellar reputation in that way.
Margo, thanks for putting things in context with this information about Martinez Vidal. Your research is appreciated. It certainly seems to me that he’s used Rafa in a good cop, bad cop scenario to further the cause of his own political party.
Although a great honour, I also wondered why Rafa, at the time, had agreed to the renaming of the Barcelona stadium to Pista Rafa Nadal whilst still an active player. Respecting other players and not wanting to appear arrogant, maybe he thinks that it’s a bit too much having yet another stadium with his name whilst still playing.
According to Tennishead, Rafa breaks another ATP record, most consecutive weeks inside the ATP top ten. Congratulations Rafa👏 What an amazing achievement even with all the injuries Rafa has had in his career!
Rafael Nadal 788 weeks
Jimmy Connors 787
Roger Federer 734
Ivan Lendl 619
Pete Sampras 565
Novak Djokovic 555
Stefan Edberg 493
Guilermo Vilas 484
Boris Becker 436
Bjorn Borg 421
Congrats to Rafa for breaking another ATP record. Let the 🍾 flow.
Thanks for the news Mimi.
You are welcome Margo. So proud of Rafa ❤️
Another great achievement. Bravo Rafa!
And Mimi, I hope Jimmy isn’t groaning. His longstanding ATP record of 787 stood unbroken for 32 [1973-1988] years until Rafa’s 788 [2005-2020].
Each of these two players reached his most consecutive weeks at the top ten within 15 years of competition. Just like Rafa’s 13 Roland-Garros’ record, I don’t see anyone breaking his record. And Rafa is still playing. He is incredible.
I am still amazed at the records Rafa continues to shatter.
RAFA*MAZING ROCKS
That is interesting, 15 is the magic number 😄 Thanks for the information Margo🙏
I agree with you about these two records, and yes, he is still playing! Vamos Rafa💪❤️
Well done Rafa. Glad to see you enjoying yourself on the golf course. Your talent has no bounds! Finishing 6th out of 60 is a tremendous achievement. Can’t wait to see you in tennis action at the Paris Masters.
Mimi, @ your 12:56am on Oct. 26
Yes, congrats to Alex who demolished Diego. I
I was hoping Diego would get rid of some “obstacles” for Rafa going into Paris and London but after his performance yesterday I have big doubts. I am ready to use one of Rafa’s golf clubs on him😂
If Diego is tired from so much play I don’t think 2 or three days’ rest will help. Waiting to see how he does in Vienna which will have a phenomenal field. If Rafa were playing it would look like a Slam.
Margo, no, you are not😂😂
I am hoping Diego is okay! It was just not his day as Alex played so well, saving the best against Diego? Let’s wait and see……
Yes, and according to Tennis World, the Vienna tournament director: We are doing everything to get Rafael Nadal to come and play.
Good luck to Rafa, Diego, Andrey, and FAA the rest of the season!❤️
Mimi, strange coincidence at Vienna.
Pablo Carreño-Busta just advanced to the next round because Monfils retired. And as you know, PCB won his match against ND because of that incident at the USOPEN.
I can empathize with the tournament director. He undoubtedly offered Rafa a sweet deal but he still declined. I hope it wasn’t hard for Rafa to say no. We know how he loves to play.
Margo, LOL, a default is different than a retirement, just saying😉
I didn’t watch the match, did you? I wonder if Monfils got hurt or something? It seems like Monfils has not been playing well since tennis resumes. I was able to check scores for the first set that was it. I was out jogging.
Probably not that sweet or else Rafa is already in Vienna 😂🤣
You have me LOL again. Yes, Mimi, retirement and getting kicked out of a tournament are not the same. 😂😂 [couldn’t help saying “kicked out]
The coincidence is that the same player, PCB, benefited. Apologize I wasn’t clear.
Unfortunately, Monfils has a shoulder injury. Just awful. Hope he heals so he can get back into action.
DRUMROLL!!! Diego has pulled out of Vienna. Can’t find an explanation yet. If you find one, please post.
The way things are going on now with restrictions in Europe I wouldn’t be surprised if the ATP Finals and Paris Masters are more affected in some way.
I read that ND said it may be difficult for him to play Australia because of the different restrictions among the states within the country. He didn’t give any details but when he came to NY we had the same problem so who knows what he’s talking about.
I hope Vienna goes smoothly.
Margo, no apology necessary. I misunderstood you. You are right, PCB benefited both times. Thanks for the information, and I hope Monfils’ shoulder injury is not serious.
Maybe not a bad idea if Diego just wanted to take a rest and be ready for Paris. I just hope it’s not an injury🤞 Good thing is the three players behind him, G. Monfils retired, D. Shapovalov already lost today, and I don’t think M. Berrettini is playing this week.
I think ND will do everything he can to show up at the Aussie Open unless it is canceled that is for sure.
I hope so too!🍀
Thank you for the photos.
Amazing talent an example of being a superstar and yet soooo humble and kind – can only be one RAFA on this earth – well done !!!!!
I see he is playing right handed!
Thank you for the lovely photos of Rafa 🙏
Day 1: tenth, day 2: seventh 👏 good luck on day 3 Rafa 🍀❤️
Day 3: sixth
Congratulations Rafa 👏👏👏
Smart move, if there’s intent somewhere around there. Since this isn’t Rafa’s first foray into golf, is this his quiet preparation for when he hangs up the racquet for the club?
Seventh, thus far! Seems like it’s not too quiet at all.
If someday Rafa excels in golf too, I shall be asking: ‘is there anything at all you can’t do?’
If this bears fruit, I’ll be supporting you 100%!
See I watch all sports, bar swimming and the violent ones like boxing, UFC etc.
All the best, whichever way this pans out….
A fantastic selection of photographs who looks so fit and gorgeous as usual . Congratulations Rafa . Such an amazingly talented sportsman, tennis , football and golf .
Now back to prepare for Bercy. All support always 🇪🇸🌟☘️
Wow, soccer, tennis (obviously 😉) and now golf??? Just curious does he play golf right handed or left handed? I think left because of his two handed backhand but just guessing here.
Right hand for golf . Writes with right hand . Tennis only a leftie
Also lefty at ping-pong so lefty for racket sports, I guess. Wonder which way he’d bat if he played baseball. Switch-hitter, maybe? Doubt we’ll ever know!
Je te dirais Rafael à quel moment arrêter au Tennis pour le Golf ou bien une nouvelle activité. Le Grand Bénéfique tient compte de tout sans ne rien laisser au Hasard. Jean-Louis Ferreira.
Congratulations Rafa beating 16 Pro Am golfers Rafa you have the midas touch no matter what game you play. You’re my Champion of Champions. Vamos Rafa
Yes. Champion he is